Virginia Miracle

I am a very nice lady. I will often apologize out of sheer reflex when I have done nothing wrong. Right up until I have been pushed over the edge.

After my bag was not delivered to my house at 11pm as promised last night, I checked the United Airlines bagtrack website and found the following super-helpful display. Yay technology.

Needless to say “N/A” is not an acceptable answer to my bag’s whereabouts, so I called United and spent a good 15+ minutes on the phone with them. Turns out, they can’t even confirm the bag is in Austin now – they think the barcode may have been ripped off. So, they asked for descriptions of a few unique items in contents. I suggested that identifying it by the bright yellow leather luggage tag might be easier, but I played along. Here’s what I gave them:

• Reproduction “RUN-DMC” vintage tee shirt, with label from Anonymous tees on Venice Beach
• Brown “Sports Racers” tee shirt (so that I would have been able to identify other Ze Frank fans at SXSW)
• Limited Edition Ed Hardy low top Converse sneakers

None of the above is technically valuable, but as I was detailing my requested “unique items”, I started getting angrier and angrier. I love that stuff and, because I work in a business formal office, this was my shot of enjoying wearing it in someplace other than my living room.

What I should have done is invited my colleague who made it to Austin to pick up the bag and take photos of a couple of the “unique items” in various places in Austin – Flat Stanley style. If I couldn’t go, at least my sneaks could have made it to Guero’s, the Stevie Ray Vaughan statue, and a few parties. Alas, next time.

A funny thing happened on my way to SXSW. I was at the United Airlines gate at Dulles with a confirmed ticket, waiting for my seat assignment. Everyone in the boarding area was very clearly bound for SXSW. My colleague Rohit boarded with his First Class cohorts and I said I would see him in Austin. And then they closed the doors and 4 of us were left on the wrong side of the door assaulting the gate agent. Her story was that they had asked for volunteers and not gotten any, so they randomly bumped 4 of us. I did not hear her ask for volunteers once, but I could have missed it. We were advised to go to Customer Service to find out our options.

In line at Customer Service, we bonded. Turns out we’re all in the digital biz – unsurprising given where the plane was headed – and all blog. It made me start thinking that instead of ranking customers randomly or based on status, should brands think about the risk of pissing off people with all manner of social media knowhow because of the risk they pose?

Case in point, I was packing my brand new Flipcam and interviewed my new friends from September Third, Capital Gig, and PBS.

When we discovered there was only 1 seat to get to Austin tonight (through Denver which is NOT on the way), we actually had a discussion as to which one of us should get it – that’s pretty bonded for 4 strangers, hence me borrowing from lost and titling this post the “United 4″. Long story short, I couldn’t get to Austin in time to make it worth the trip, so I spent the next 2 hours in 3 different lines: One line to get a free ticket & taxi voucher to get home, one line to get my trip refunded in full, and another line to try to get my bag (which went to Austin with Rohit) to be sent back to DC and hopefully delivered to my home later on tonight.

You could look at a planeful of blogging and vlogging geeks as a risk or an opportunity.

Half-empty perspective – if you do something assinine like overbook and then not make any effort to equalize the situation with volunteers, you are going to seriously piss off some very vocal people. Net? Make sure you don’t make anyone angry.

Half-full perspective – why not use the Austin flights as the chance to pilot new programs, put free copies of Wired in the seats, hold in-flight focus groups about service, play music, toss around a beach ball, pilot wireless, or do anything remarkable? Heck, you could do something groundbreaking like serving actual in-flight sustenance. If you do, these people will capture it and pass it on and reflect on you positively. They are predisposed to share.

But whatever you do, let them get on the freaking plane.

Note: Vlog superstar Adriana Gascoigne will now be taking my place co-hosting the core conversation 10 Easy Ways to Piss off a Blogger at SXSW on Sunday at 11:30. Check them out!

While prowling my new Georgetown neighborhood for fashion finds this past weekend, I stumbled across a darling awning in the distance proclaiming “Georgetown Cupcake“. The cupcake phenomenon that has kept lines formed at Sprinkles in LA and Magnolia in NYC (immortalized in SNL’s Lazy Sunday) has officially reached my new corner of the world.

I was technically out searching for a duvet cover, but thought a cupcake break might hit the spot so I crossed the street and noticed a sign on the door:

SOLD OUT – will reopen at 5

Hmm. They must be good if they’re sold out, right? I was so wiped from shopping that I sent my dear husband back at 5 to pick up a few. He found a line so long that he announced the only way he would have waited in it would have been if a private concert with U2 was on the other end. Foiled again.

Sunday, I returned with Blackberry in hand figuring I could read some email while waiting for a cupcake. About 20 minutes in, someone was deciding whether or not to wait and asked “Has anyone actually tasted these cupcakes?“. Only 1 line-waiter had and she assured us they were good, but she was going to try a different flavor this time. A few minutes later, a woman walked by, remarked on the line and said, “Oh! I think the founder was on Martha Stewart this week!” Martha knows cupcakes, right? This will totally be worth it. After waiting for FORTY MINUTES, the proprietors walked out to announce they were sold out again. WHAT?? ARE THE CUPCAKES MADE WITH JOHNNY DEPP’S TEARS OR SOMETHING?

During the week, while the touristas and 8 to 6ers like your humble blogette were safely out of cupcake distance, my husband snuck back to Georgetown Cupcake and procured these as a surprise:

They’re cute. They’re small. They’re cupcakes. Really, thought, the taste and form factor are not remarkable. What’s remarkable is THE LINE. I’d like to tell you that this type of WOM will fade once everyone tries them and realizes that they’re just OK cupcakes, but I can cite at least a dozen food based businesses all over the country as known for their lines than their food (ever visited Pepe’s or Sally’s in New Haven?).

I discussed this with Malcolm @ BzzAgent over lunch on Monday and he noted that we, as a culture, rarely have to wait in line these days. We can handle shopping, ticket purchases (source of my favorite line stories), post office and even many DMV duties virtually these days, so are we just a bunch of lost sheep searching for a line to stand in?

Now that I have had a Georgetown Cupcake, I will not be waiting in any 40 minute lines again. If anything, I am having dreams about turning my house into a cupcake bakery making over-sized cupcakes with unusual fillings in awesome gift boxes that I sell for $8 a pop. Given the nothing more than adequacy of their product, it will be interesting to see if the lines at Georgetown Cupcakes last…And if the Dean & Deluca across the street starts selling killer cupcakes to capitalize on the folks who wont wait in line.

It is February 14 and time again to honor those that make life sweeter all 365 days of the year.  There is one brand in whom I have always been a fan, but that evangelism has greatly amplified since the last time cupid came to Hallmark

Nau fan Chris said “every great brand has a double or triple bottom line”.  While my previous fandom was simply for brand Husband, this year, Husband took on new roles and new meaning in my life.  Instead of only being my best friend and leading man, this year Husband also became full-fledged CPA (WOOHOO!), Co-child-creator (someone once said “it takes a village” and it at least takes 120% of both of us), and in a moment of loss that still creeps in my throat when I least expect it, Eulogist.  In the midst of all of these major changes, Husband chose to push himself even further – pick up the hats of Counselor and Cheerleader as I explored changing jobs and we seriously discussed moving the family.

If I have realized one thing in all the weeks of long distance commuting, it is that brand Husband is my secret weapon. He is the special sauce in my Big Mac, the Santana knit blend in my St. John clothes, the Lucite in my Alexis Bittar jewelry and the cinnamon in my Red Hots. 

I already loved you 6 Valentine’s Days ago, but I did not appreciate how much I would grow to respect and honor you.  Our partnership is a diamond whose value and brilliance increases over time as life cuts new facets.  I am so blessed to be in your corner and have you in mine.  Happy Valentine’s Day. 

And yes, you can buy the big screen TV.

Thanks to Jake for tagging me on this particular assignment. It is particularly apropos as I have been commuting back and forth to DC for the last 5 weeks and have become an expert packer. Here are the items that always make the cut:

Cash – I know, I know, its old fashioned, but there are still some situations that simply require cash and I don’t want to be the person trying to convince the cabbie to take plastic.

Bose On-Ear Noise Canceling Headphones – whether you want to listen to music, drown jet noise, watch a movie or just say “don’t talk to me” to the person sitting next to you, these do the trick. These were a wonderful “first day of new job” gift from my husband.

Magazine-I-Would-Not-Be-Caught-Dead-Subscribing-to – The mental equivalent of comfort food, trashy magazines are my travel indulgence. If you encounter me on the road, chances are there is an OK!, People, or Life & Style hidden somewhere in my bags. When not traveling, I get my fix via Jen whose motto is “I read US Weekly so you don’t have to”.

Pashmina Shawl – The pashmina is the world’s perfect accessory. Made of a cashmere wool derived from goats in the high Himalayas, these shawls are very warm while also being very thin & light. It can be easily stowed in a purse or laptop bag and emerge to serve as a scarf with your winter coat, a shawl over evening wear, or a pillow or blanket for the freezing plane. They are expensive, but pennies a use.

St. John Knit clothes – These are well covered on the blog but appear here, because I don’t ever want to iron in a hotel room again. Ever.

Reservation for a Kimpton Hotel – If a city has one, you can bet I am trying to stay there. I am in their “Inner Circle” and today the front office manager of the Rouge greeted me as if I was a rockstar and had the room waiting with the snacks and bottled water I requested when I strolled in at 9pm. They know that what frequent travelers want is to be welcomed home and they overdeliver every time.

John? Spike? Minjae? What’s in your bags?